CD Odyssey Disc 1215: Neko Case

I’m still curating my “best of 2018” album list but – spoiler alert – this next album will be on it.

Disc 1215 is… Hell-On

Artist: Neko Case

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? Neko Case, smokin’ hot as always. This cover also answers that age-old question, “should I put a fire out with human hair?” The answer is no.

How I Came To Know It: Neko Case is a brilliant singer-songwriter. I love all her other albums and bought this one the day it came out.

How It Stacks Up:  I have nine Neko Case albums but despite the odds, this is only my second one reviewed. Despite fierce competition, “Hell-On” is one of the best. I rank it third overall.

Ratings:  4 stars

“Hell-On” is a bouquet of a dozen black roses, each song a moody beauty that holds wisdom, insight into the human condition and a thorn or two to prick the unwary.

As ever, Case’s vocals are big brassy and powerful in the low register, and almost hymnal when she climbs up into her head-voice. I could listen to Neko Case sing the phone book and be happy. On my first listen to “Hell-On” I found myself in an unfamiliar position; being carried away on the tone at the expense of what she was saying. Usually, I am drawn strongly to lyrics, and while “Hell-On” features some amazing songwriting from that perspective, I was initially drawn to the tune alone.

Contributing to this is some inspired production decisions, which is layered and rich without ever feeling busy. Instead, it gives the songs an echo, like Case is singing in an abandoned church or sea-cave rather than in front of studio mic.

Part of that is that the songs are composed to have a haunting quality. Case essentially admits this on “Pitch or Honey” where she sings:

“I use major chords
To make this a sadder song
An effective manipulation
Moonlight reflected is many times stronger”

That moonlight imagery is evocative of the whole record, combining the mystery of the moon, with the eerie reflection of its power off water. I didn’t feel a lot of fire on “Hell-On” but I felt plenty of restless contemplation carried along on oceanic metaphor.

Despite the dark themes, Case’s delivery is triumphant, reaching out across the sunless seascapes she creates a beacon. You feel discomfited and reassured at the same time. The effect is energizing.

Once I was drawn into the narrative quality of the songs, “Hell-On” was replete with lines that jump out at you, often evoking the ocean in the process. The self-aware regret of the character on “Curse of the I-5 Corridor” sings:

 You were a good man before you knew it
And I’m not vain enough to think
That I’d have been good for you if I’d stayed
In the current of your life
I was an eyelash in the shipping lanes.”

The reckless love on “Winnie”:

“That's when I met Winnie
I wanted to be her sailor's tattoo”

And the romantic wonder of “Oracle of the Maritimes”:

“The oracle of the Maritimes
He said ‘come on, sweet girl, let's find you an ocean
That goes with your eyes’”

In each case the rich lyrical content is melded to brilliant melodic structures that underscore their dark themes and hidden strength.

Case has always been a great collaborator (she is 1/3 of case/lang/veirs and 1/8 of the New Pornographers). Here she brings in Crooked Fingers’ lead singer Eric Bachmann for a duet on “Sleep All Summer.” This song is the pretties little duet about dying love I’ve heard in a while. This is a song set to a sway that’ll make you think of high school proms and weddings. You’ll find yourself slow-dancing and only halfway through realize Case is singing about loss, not commitment.

“Hell-On” works equally well as a single mood piece or a series of crowd-pleasing singles you can pull from the record as needed. I pulled one for a recent New Year’s Eve setlist (“Last Lion of Albion”) and it is just as beautiful separated from its bouquet. My only regret is not choosing “Gumball Blue” – a song that actually references New Year’s Eve. I made the same mistake passing over on St. Vincent’s “Happy Birthday, Johnny”. I’ll have to remedy those oversights.

However, there is nothing to remedy about the record itself, and the reason it was represented on playlist was because it is one of the best albums of 2018. Make yourself a resolution to go buy it.

Best tracks: Hell-On, Last Lion of Albion, Curse of the I-5 Corridor, Oracle of the Maritimes, Winnie, Sleep All Summer, Pitch or Honey